"They Are Young. They Will Heal Fast."

Several years ago a talk was posted on the TED.com website that had me laughing and saying, "yes, we should do that!"  This week I was reminded of this talk with my Aunt as she posted on a family blog a chat with her daughter and granddaughter concerning children playing with fire.  Gever Tulley was the speaker and the talk was titled: 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.  Yep.  Dat's wat eet iz!  Playin' wit fiyaaa!

He ensures that his listeners are aware that we are making larger and larger safety bubbles around each child, to the point that we stifling their creativity, ability to learn, understand how real objects work, and ability to manipulate objects with their hands and minds.  This type of childhood training reminds me of the difference between one of my siblings and I.  After dinner with family members, my brother Trent and I, when we approached what appeared to be a moving waterfall landscape picture in the restaurant, had very different reactions.  He was up close to the picture looking behind it, trying to figure out how it worked, and I was further back looking at the artistic rendering of the landscape, absorbing its beauty and interpreting its meaning.  Trent was ready to pull it apart and discover its inner guts, which Tulley suggests each parent should do with their child when appliances and other objects no longer work.  Disect them and learn together.

The most important message that Tulley suggests in addition to remembering the art of discover, is the reality that parents could be passing this work on to their children, do so with safety and supervision, have fun, and create shared meaningfulness between the scientific dissectors.  His best piece of advice if someone does accidentally sustain an injury: "Don't worry.  They are young.  They will heal fast."

Several years have passed since my initial viewing of the videocast, there is now a website and a book, both titled Fifty Dangerous Things.

Enjoy the information and get dissecting!